Another Strike in Manhattan?

The omens seemed far from favorable. "A situation exists that could lead to a strike," said Bertram A. Powers, 42, the stubborn Irishman whose printers triggered the 114-day strike against Manhattan newspapers two winters ago. Now the printers and publishers are negotiating once more, and "deadlock" was Powers' word to describe the situation. With that, he flew to Colorado Springs to carry the gloomy tidings to International Typographical Union President Elmer Brown.

Powers' departure was widely construed by the New York press as the first step toward a strike, which Powers cannot call without a ratifying vote from his 2,700 men--a ballot that requires headquarters permission. But that was probably a misinterpretation. It overlooked two encouraging breaks in the pattern that led to the disastrous and costly shutdown of 1962-63.

Two Irishmen. Significantly, the two sides have been getting together regularly, well in advance of the contract expiration date, which is March 30. This is a considerable departure from the past, when serious negotiations did not always begin before the contract ran out. Since last October, the unions and the publishers have met 54 times, in an atmosphere that even Bert Powers described as "reasonable."

Perhaps even more important, this time Irishman Powers is pitted against a different type of adversary. Last time around, he sat across the bargaining table from Amory Howe Bradford, 52, vice president and general manager of the New York Times, an Ivy League product (Phillips Academy, Yale '34) whose icy and unbending demeanor only stiffened Bert Powers' spine. This time, the publishers' bargaining voice is John J. Gaherin, 50, an Irishman with whom Powers can probably come to terms.

Like the printers' boss, Gaherin came up the hard way, without benefit of a college education. To his new assignment in New York, he brings 20 years of experience in railroad labor relations, most recently as chairman of the labor-relations committee of the East ern Railroad Presidents Conference. In that capacity, Gaherin has argued management's side against the railroad brotherhoods, or unions, many of whom are at least as stubborn as Powers and his men.

Automation Threat. Whether the shrewd appointment of Gaherin can actually avert another shutdown is a question that probably will not be answered much before March 30, if then. As expected, the preliminary jousting has only spelled out the distance between the two sides. Gaherin, for instance, has offered a $10.50 wage increase over three years, and a three-year contract, to apply to all nine craft unions. Powers has countered by demanding $15 for one year and a one-year contract.

But this is little more than a dummy issue. The real bone of contention is automation, a thorny problem left unresolved by the last strike. The printers were then alarmed at the job threat posed by such new devices as computer-operated, tape-fed typesetting machines, now installed or on order at two of Manhattan's six dailies (the Times and the Post). Management is equally concerned, and has offered to neutralize the threat by attrition: to let only death, retirement and resignation, and not the machines, winnow the present population of the composing room. This concert of minds speaks much more loudly than the niggling differences involved.

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